Base oil shipments to Turkey increased in July as domestic blenders sought cheaper alternative sources from abroad and production declined.
Total base oil imports into Turkey rose by 64pc for July and by 19.5pc for the period January-July to 46,240t and 344,210t, respectively, compared with a year earlier, government data show.
The increase was led by stronger Group I base oil imports, which jumped over twofold for July and by 17pc for the first seven months of the year to 25,380t and 179,870t from the previous year.
Domestic Turkish blenders relied on base oil imports as production at the country's sole Group I refinery dropped. Output at Tupras' 400,000 t/yr Group I unit at the Izmir refinery fell by 30.7pc in the first half of the year to 49,300t, and fell to 2,040t in June from 14,570t compared with a year earlier.
Base oil output dropped probably as a result of production issues at the plant, with halts in March, after having only restarted in February after a seven-month outage.
Further, posted prices by the refiner averaged above European and Black Sea spot prices which probably incentivised increased base oil shipments. Tupras' posted prices for Group I SN 150 for July averaged $1,660.77/t and were 3.2pc higher than Argus-assessed European export prices and 47.6pc higher than Black Sea prices for the same grade.
As a result, imports from Russia surged to 8,610t in July compared with 1,330t a year earlier for Group I base oils, and by 29.3pc for the period January-July to 41,390t compared with the same period in 2021.
